SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook parent Meta announced Thursday the shutdown of some 1,500 accounts tied to “cyber mercenary” companies accused of spying on activists, dissidents, and journalists worldwide on behalf of paying clients.
The Facebook and Instagram pages were linked to seven firms, with services allegedly ranging from scooping up public information online to using fake personas to build trust with targets or digital snooping via hack attacks.
Meta unveiled plans to alert about 50,000 people it believes may have been targeted in over 100 nations by firms that include several based or founded in Israel, which is a leading player in the cyber-surveillance industry.
“The surveillance-for-hire industry… looks like indiscriminate targeting on behalf of the highest bidder,” Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook, told a press briefing.
The leading social media network said it deleted accounts tied to Cobwebs Technologies, Cognyte, Black Cube, and Bluehawk CI — all of which were based or founded in Israel.
